Madam, - John Maguire, Chief Executive of the Irish Concrete Federation, claims (October 5th) that his organisation had nothing to do with stopping the introduction of improved energy efficiency standards.
Interestingly, Mr Maguire failed to address the fact that the Department of the Environment failed to introduce new building regulations for five years in order to protect the manufacturers of concrete blocks.
Under Freedom of Information, I obtained the 1998 Department of the Environment confidential memo which acknowledged that the building regulations needed to be revised, but warned: "We don't want to signal this to the outside world just yet because the next leap in building standard insulation will probably involve making it difficult for 'hollow block' construction, used widely in Dublin, to survive."
The new regulations were not introduced until 2002, with an exemption for all planning applications lodged before the end of that year. This meant that nearly 300,000 new homes were built under the old standards; the Government put the narrow interest of one section of the concrete industry ahead of the public interest.
We are left with a legacy of cold houses for coming generations. Hundreds of thousands of the new homes built here in recent years could have been much better-insulated at very little cost. As a result, home-owners are paying higher heating bills, homes are generating thousands of tonnes more CO2 than they should be, and Ireland will be facing an even larger fine under the Kyoto Protocol.
Just like King Canute, Mr Maguire and his colleagues are realising that you cannot hold back the tide of change. We are now in an era where the Government and consumers demand more energy-efficient homes as standard. The Concrete Federation needs to realise it is better to innovate than to try to brainwash the consumer about your product. - Yours, etc,
GERARD McCAUGHEY, Chief Executive, Kingspan Century, Clones Road, Monaghan.